The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, relates to the re-dating of the Neadnerthal remains from Spy Cave by a team based in Oxford’s Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit.
Most of the dates obtained in this new study have been found to be much older than those obtained previously on the same bone samples – up to 5,000 years older in certain cases. According to the paper, Re-evaluating the timing of Neanderthal disappearance in Northwest Europe, this suggests Neanderthals disappeared from the region 44,200-40,600 years ago, much earlier than previously estimated.
The team used an advanced method for radiocarbon dating fossil bones. Using liquid chromatography separation, they were able to extract a single amino acid from the Neanderthal remains for dating. This so-called ‘compound-specific’ approach allows scientists to reliably date the bones and exclude carbon from contaminants such as those from the glue that was applied to the fossils. These contaminants have plagued previous attempts to reliably date the Belgian Neanderthals because their presence resulted in dates that were much too young.
Oxford professor Tom Higham said: ‘Dating is crucial in archaeology, without a reliable framework of chronology we can’t really be confident in understanding the relationships between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens as we moved into Europe 45,000 years ago and they began to disappear.